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^JNIVtHSlTY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 

*-OS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 

Reprinted  from  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 

Science,  Philadelphia,  September,  1916. 

Publication  No.  1048. 

VOCATIONAL   GUIDANCE   IN   SCHOOL  AND 
OCCUPATION 

By  John  M.  Brewer,  Ph.D., 

Instructor  in  Education,  Harvard  University. 

Vocational  guidance  deals  with  the  problems  of  informing  or 
advising  persons  in  regard  to  choosing,  preparing  for,  entering  upon 
and  making  progress  in  occupations.  The  importance  of  this  prob- 
lem is  evident  to  any  thinking  adult;  what  is  not  so  obvious  is  the 
practical  answer  to  the  question:  What  can  the  school  do  about 
vocational  guidance?  This  paper  aims  to  present  in  summary- 
fashion  the  plans  and  possibilities  which  suggest  the  answer.  The 
very  breadth  of  our  problem  makes  its  complexity  inevitable. 
Glance,  if  you  will,  at  the  topics  of  the  papers  in  this  volume,  and 
note  that  many  of  them  are  related,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  success 
and  happiness  in  the  calling.  Besides  these  subjects,  moreover, 
vocational  guidance  must  concern  itself  with  the  problems  of  com- 
merce and  industry:  economics,  labor  organizations,  land  values, 
taxation,  transportation;  any  plan  for  comprehensive  guidance 
must  not  restrict  itself  to  narrowly  educational  investigations. 

In  spite  of  the  importance  of  the  subject  of  vocational  guidance, 
and  the  need  for  strenuous  intellectual  endeavor  in  attempting  to 
solve  its  complex  problems,  schools  had  made  little  conscious  effort 
to  work  out  even  a  tentative  solution  until  Meyer  Bloomfield  began 
his  activities  in  the  Boston  schools  six  years  ago.  Several  causes 
have  contributed  to  the  reluctance  of  the  school :  (a)  School  people 
have  not  known  the  occupational  world  well  enough  to  advise 
pupils  in  regard  to  vocational  opportunities;  (b)  schools  "prepared 
for  life"  only  in  general  and  indefinite  ways, — it  was  not  widely 
recognized,  as  it  begins  to  be  now,  that  culture  on  the  one  hand  and 
specific  experiences  of  a  practical  sort  on  the  other  belong  together 
and  should  both  be  furnished  by  the  school;  (c)  it  was  frequently 
assumed  that  parents  would  provide  all  the  vocational  guidance 
necessary,  or  that  the  job  itself  would  automatically  furnish  it; 
(d)  American  individualism  led  to  a  laissez-faire  policy,  to  an  ener- 
vating admiration  of  the  "self-made"  man,  and  to  other  such  tacit 
denials  of  the  utility  of  vocational  guidance. 

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2  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

All  this  time  in  which  the  schools  were  neglecting  the  duty  of 
cooperating  with  the  young  people  when  they  were  making  their 
vocational  decisions,  however,  an  active  but  erroneous  form  of 
guidance  was  going  on — a  species  of  false  guidance  which  still 
nourishes.  The  suggestions  of  the  street,  village,  city,  or  limited 
environment  enter  the  mind  of  the  child  and  influence  his  deci- 
sions. Uncriticised  information  about  the  successes  of  others, 
suggestions  of  relatives  or  of  child  companions,  or  newspaper  and 
magazine  advertisements  of  doubtful  veracity  aid  him  in  reaching 
decisions  which  determine  the  course  of  his  whole  life.  If  the  school 
is  not  willing  that  such  sources  of  vocational  misinformation  should 
monopolize  the  field,  it  must  make  systematic  efforts  to  furnish  pro- 
per substitutes. 

What  the  Schools  are  Doing 

Schools  in  various  parts  of  the  country  have  already  developed 
the  elements  of  effective  vocational  guidance.  If  certain  good  plans 
now  in  successful  operation  could  be  gathered  up  and  set  into  motion 
in  any  one  school  system,  that  school  system  would  make  adequate 
provision  for  guidance.     Let  us  now  examine  some  of  these  plans. 

(1)  The  Life-Cakeer  Class  Formed 
Some  ten  or  more  high  schools,  within  the  writer's  limited 
investigation,  are  conducting  regular  classes  for  the  study  of  oc- 
cupations. The  following  are  some  illustrations  of  the  work  being 
done  at  various  places:  In  Oakland  Technical  High  School,  Cali- 
fornia, first-year  pupils  meet  in  classes  once  each  week  throughout 
the  year,  and,  under  the  leadership  of  teachers  who  are  making  a 
study  of  vocational  guidance,  investigate  occupations  and  study 
the  problems  of  continued  education  in  relation  to  the  calling.  Boys 
and  girls  are  in  separate  classes.  In  Middletown,  Connecticut,  the 
life-career  class  has  been  a  regular  part  of  the  high  school  work  for 
several  years.  Recently  a  textbook  for  boys  has  been  issued,  based 
on  the  work  in  this  school.1  The  plan  includes  a  study  of  the  whole 
field  of  occupations,  under  ten  different  heads,  together  with  dis- 
cussions of  the  following  topics:  the  importance  of  vocational  in- 
formation, characteristics  of  a  good  vocation,  how  to  study  voca- 

1  Gowin,  Enoch  Burton,  and  Wheatley,  William  Alonzo,  Occupations,  Ginn 
and  Company,  1916. 


Vocational  Guidance  3 

tions,  choosing  a  vocation,  securing  a  position,  efficient  work  and  its 
reward. 

Other  plans  are  fully  as  comprehensive.  Grand  Rapids  has 
accomplished  the  same  result  without  creating  new  classes, — the 
work  in  English  composition  has  been  directed  into  vocational 
channels,  and  the  pupils  in  all  the  grades  from  the  seventh  through 
the  high  school  have  the  benefit  of  systemetic  enlightenment  about 
the  following  topics:  vocational  ambition,  value  of  education,  the 
elements  of  character  that  make  for  success  in  life,  vocational  bi- 
ographies, the  world's  work,  choosing  a  vocation,  preparation  for 
life's  work,  vocational  ethics,  social  ethics,  civic  ethics.2 

The  life-career  class  should  begin  much  lower  than  the  high 
school;  it  is  known  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  "leakage"  from 
school  occurs  before  the  sixth  grade.  It  is  unfair  to  these  children 
that  they  should  be  permitted  to  go  from  school  into  occupational 
life  without  some  insight  into  and  outlook  upon  the  opportunities 
and  problems  about  them. 

(2)  School  Studies  Adapted  to  Vocational  Needs 

Many  schools  which  have  not  organized  life-career  classes  have 
done  excellent  work  in  reorganizing  the  material  in  the  subjects 
of  the  established  program.  The  teacher  of  a  lesson  in  arithmetic, 
geography,  language,  or  science  should  bear  in  mind  that  each  child's 
life  presents  certain  actual  and  potential  requirements  of  a  personal, 
social,  occupational,  and  civic  sort,  and  should  see  that  the  study 
and  experience  involved  in  each  lesson  are  so  planned  as  to  contribute 
something  toward  satisfying  these  needs.  Many  subjects  of  the 
school  program  should  be  almost  wholly  related  to  occupational 
needs,  and  practically  every  lesson  in  the  school  work  has  something 
to  contribute  to  success  and  usefulness  in  the  vocation.  Occupa- 
tional needs  are  not  the  only  needs,  but  they  should  not  be  ignored. 
Teachers  in  Boston  and  Grand  Rapids  have  made  progress  in  this 
particular.  Many  teachers  are  using  the  "project"  method  in 
teaching:  thus,  arithmetical  principles  are  taught  in  connection 
with  "keeping  store,"  or  building  a  play  house,  and  the  principles 
of  physics  by  putting  together  an  automobile.  Trips,  visits  to 
museums  and  galleries  and  cooperative  tasks  such  as  building  a 

2  Davis,  Jesse  Buttrick,  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance,  Ginn  and  Com- 
pany, 1914. 


4  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

miniature  landscape,  dramatizing  an  event,  or  keeping  the  school 
yard  clean,  may  be  used  as  aids  in  teaching  geography,  history, 
and  community  civics.  It  has  been  said  that  lack  of  interest  and 
profit  in  school  work  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  tasks  as- 
signed to  children  are  those  that  no  one  outside  of  school  is  en- 
gaged in  performing.  Vocational  guidance  would  be  much  more 
intelligently  done  if  each  child  might  have  concrete  experiences 
in  solving  actual  problems. 

(3)  School  Reorganization  to  Meet  Vocational  Needs 

A  less  direct  but  very  important  way  in  which  the  school  system 
can  adapt  itself  to  the  needs  of  vocational  guidance  is  by  changing 
its  organization  to  suit  modern  needs.  Kindergartens,  good  play- 
ground facilities,  a  school  program  rich  in  many  different  kinds  of 
mental  and  manual  exercises,  and  junior  high  schools  with  a  wide 
range  of  subjects,  all  help  the  pupil  to  find  his  abilities  and  to  meas- 
ure himself  against  many  kinds  of  tasks.  Versatility  is  important; 
a  "jack-of -all-trades"  experience  is  a  good  basis  for  the  intelligent 
choice  of  an  occupation.  Many  school  systems  have  in  the  ele- 
mentary grades  simple  work  in  clay,  printing,  gardening,  sewing, 
cooking,  wood,  and  iron;  and  some  have  work  in  shoe  repairing, 
electricity,  cement,  and  bookbinding.  The  intermediate  or  junior 
high  school,  which  admits  children  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  grade  and 
keeps  them  for  three  years,  offers  splendid  opportunity  for  the 
child's  development  and  self-discovery.  This  is  the  "trying-out 
period" — the  time  when  teachers  and  pupils  may  cooperate  for 
vocational  guidance  with  great  advantage.  All  pupils  at  this  age 
should  have  a  broad  study  of  occupational  opportunities. 

The  organization  should  provide,  too,  for  individual  conferences 
on  vocational  choices,  and  on  such  questions  as  further  education, 
means  of  preparation  for  particular  occupations,  opportunities  of 
earning  money  to  allow  the  education  to  be  continued,  and  pref- 
erences of  parents.  These  conferences  need  be  nothing  more  than 
friendly  conversations,  with  information  and  advice  suited  to  the 
needs  of  the  individual.  Each  child  may  be  asked  to  choose  several 
occupations  for  special  study,  with  tentative  decision  on  one  or  two. 
No  pupil  should  be  asked  to  make  his  final  choice  of  an  occupation 
prematurely, — many  may  profitably  delay  the  choice  until  the 
college  age.     We  may  insist,  however,  that  no  one  should  be  forced 


Vocational  Guidance  5 

by  economic  necessity,  or  by  the  negligence  of  the  schools,  to  enter 
a  job  or  an  occupation  blindly.  In  the  Boston  schools  the  eighth 
grade  teachers  hold  individual  conferences  with  their  pupils,  aiding 
them  especially  in  choosing  a  high  school.  In  Birmingham, 
England,  men  and  women  under  the  general  direction  of  the  school 
authorities  in  the  occupations  often  act  as  advisers  of  children. 

Teachers  who  are  especially  qualified  for  the  work  should  have 
time  allotted  them  for  vocational  guidance.  Much  can  be  done  on  a 
volunteer  basis  in  the  beginning,  but  the  investigations  necessary 
to  effective  work  require  more  time  than  the  teacher  can  spare  from 
her  regular  duties.  Those  appointed  to  do  counseling  should  study 
the  economic,  industrial,  commercial  and  professional  life  of  their 
communities,  and  make  efforts  to  cooperate  with  workers  and  em- 
ployers. They  should  follow  the  children  who  leave  school,  guiding 
them  in  their  progress  in  the  occupations,  and  deriving  from  them 
valuable  information  to  use  in  advising  those  still  in  school.  Coun- 
selors may  hold  frequent  conferences  for  developing  good  methods 
in  the  work. 

Parents,  too,  need  help  and  advice.  In  Pomona,  California, 
the  vocational  director  for  the  schools  is  holding  a  series  of  parents' 
meetings  for  the  consideration  of  problems  connected  with  the 
guidance  of  the  children.  The  school  departments  in  a  score  or 
more  of  places  have  each  appointed  some  one  person  to  exercise 
general  supervision  over  the  vocational  guidance  work  of  the  schools. 
These  officers  assist  the  teachers  in  finding  occupational  values 
in  the  studies  of  the  school  program,  hold  teachers'  conferences  for 
the  discussion  of  methods  of  vocational  guidance,  enlist  the  aid 
of  civic  associations,  help  in  securing  work,  arrange  for  apprentice- 
ship and  part-time  agreements,  investigate  occupations,  and  conduct 
life-career  classes. 

EXTRA-CURRICULAR    AlDS    IN    VOCATIONAL    GUIDANCE 

The  student  affairs  and  club  activities  of  the  children  give  them 
experience  which  is  valuable  for  vocational  guidance.  The  Boy 
Scout  and  Camp  Fire  Girl  movements  acquaint  their  members  with 
many  kinds  of  useful  activities  not  yet  furnished  by  the  schools,  and 
they  substitute  projects  or  "merit  badge"  tests  for  formal  instruc- 
tion. Summer  camps,  athletics,  debating,  boys'  and  girls'  clubs, 
student  self-government,  and  literary  societies  all  offer  opportunities 


6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

for  learning  lessons  of  self-reliance,  service,  and  cooperation — valu- 
able traits  for  all  callings  of  life. 

Is  finding  jobs  for-  children  an  aid  to  their  vocational  guidance? 
Some  school  people  unhesitatingly  answer  yes,  while  others  think 
that  there  are  far  more  profitable  activities  for  the  vocational  coun- 
selor. Though  much  good  argument  may  be  found  for  the  affirm- 
ative side  of  the  question,  and  though  some  "vocational  guidance 
bureaus"  are  concerning  themselves  almost  wholly  with  placement, 
it  seems  fair  to  say  that  other  activities  in  vocational  guidance  are 
more  profitable  to  society  and  to  the  individual  than  securing  places 
for  unprepared  children  who  leave  school.  The  conditions  of  finding 
employment  are  in  an  unsatisfactory  state,  but  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  placement  by  school  people  would  relieve  these  condi- 
tions, nor  even  that  the  school  could  obtain  better  positions  for  the 
masses  of  workers  than  they  could  secure  for  themselves.  Place- 
ment deals  with  the  effects  of  maladjustments  in  the  occupational 
world,  and  the  energy  of  the  vocational  counselor  should  be  di- 
rected at  removing  the  real  causes  of  the  difficulty. 

The  Relation  of  Vocational  Guidance  to  Vocational 

Education 

Vocational  education  is  the  subject  of  another  paper  of  this 
volume.  Great  strides  forward  have  been  taken  during  the  last 
few  years,  and  through  this  progress  the  efficiency  of  vocational 
guidance  has  been  greatly  increased.  It  is  worth  pointing  out  here, 
however,  that  vocational  counseling  requires  certain  essentials  in 
the  program  of  vocational  education.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  vocational  education  must  not  begin  too  soon, 
even  if  it  aims  to  help  those  already  at  work.  Thus,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  pupils  of  the  continuation  schools  (schools  which 
young  people  at  work  attend  during  working  hours  for  from  four  to 
ten  hours  per  week)  are  most  of  them  not  ready  for  vocational 
education,  for  they  have  not  really  decided  on  a  life-career  and  they 
are  working  at  jobs  which  offer  little  opportunity  for  advancement. 
In  the  second  place,  vocational  education  must  not  be  too  narrowly 
restricted  to  training  for  the  mere  occupation.  The  reasons  for 
this  are  that  education  for  social,  moral,  and  citizenship  duties  must 
receive  ample  attention;  and  that  in  spite  of  careful  decision  and 
careful  preparation  for  an  occupation  a  change  in  the  choice  of 


Vocational  Guidance  7 

vocation  is  sometimes  made.  Vocational  training  must  be  broader 
than  training  for  one  mechanical  process;  the  younger  the  children 
the  broader  should  the  schooling  be,  even  if  specific  training  for  the 
calling  be  left  till  after  the  young  people  have  entered  the  occupation. 
In  the  third  place,  vocational  preparation  should  include  a 
study  of  the  economic,  political,  and  social  problems  connected 
with  industry  and  commerce.  Many  a  farmer  who  has  failed  was 
efficient  in  everything  but  the  problems  of  transportation  and  com- 
mission; the  industrial  worker  should  know  something  of  wages, 
taxation,  labor  organizations,  scientific  management,  unemploy- 
ment, the  factors  in  personal  and  social  efficiency,  blind  alleys  in 
industry,  employment  agencies,  and  welfare  work. 

Cooperation  for  Guidance  in  the  Occupation 

During  the  past  few  years  the  schools,  the  workers,  and  the 
employers  have  joined  forces  for  investigations  and  improvement 
in  a  way  never  before  thought  possible.  Vocational  surveys,  part- 
time  schemes,  continuation  schools,  extension  and  short  courses, 
apprenticeship  agreements,  more  practical  methods  of  teaching,  and 
new  insight  into  working  conditions,  on  the  part  of  teachers,  are 
some  of  the  results.  Let  us  note  first  the  findings  in  regard  to  young 
workers. 

(1)  The  Young  Wprker 

Investigations  have  shown  that  even  in  the  states  which  do  not 
tolerate  the.  grosser  forms  of  child  labor,  schools  and  occupations  are 
to  blame  for  the  continuance  of  distressing  conditions.  It  has  been 
shown  that  in  many  instances  the  school  fails  to  attract  the  child — 
he  leaves  because  neither  he  nor  his  parents  think  that  the  schooling 
is  worth  while.  Economic  pressure  seems  to  be  less  a  controlling 
factor  than  it  was  formerly  thought  to  be.  Hence  the  duty  of  the 
school  to  satisfy  the  desire  for  "worth-while"  education. 

Again,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  working  child  under  sixteen 
is  usually  in  a  "blind-alley"  occupation, — often  a  mere  errand  boy, 
— and  finds  himself  several  years  later  with  no  worthy  calling  and 
no  preparation  for  any.  Other  disadvantages  in  children's  work 
are  the  necessity  for  their  hunting  work  (this  is  especially  to  be 
regretted  in  the  case  of  young  girls) ,  the  seasonal  character  of  much 
of  the  work  for  the  young,  the  difficulties  due  to  inefficiency  and 
misunderstandings,  and  the  wandering  from  job  to  job  in  the  vain 


8  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

hope  that  better  conditions  of  employment  will  be  found.  En- 
lightened employers  as  well  as  educational  investigators  seem  to 
have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  neither  industry  nor  commerce 
needs  the  services  of  children  under  sixteen,  and  that  their  place  is 
in  the  school. 

Certain  remedies  have  been  proposed  and  tried;  we  have  space 
here  only  to  enumerate  them:  part-time  work  for  those  forced  to 
earn  money  (either  a  half -day  each  in  school  and  occupation,  or 
alternate  weeks);  scholarships  for  needy  children;  better  working 
agreements,  these  to  be  filed  at  the  school  offices;  plans  for  opening 
"blind  alleys" — for  offering  training  to  every  young  worker  for 
promotion  to  a  better  occupation;  progressive  raising  of  the  com- 
pulsory school  age.  It  seems  clear  that  vocational  guidance  cannot 
be  effective  without  creating  or  at  least  working  for  better  opportuni- 
ties for  boys  and  girls,  hence  the  counselor  is  interested  in  furthering 
all  movements  for  putting  the  school  and  work  experiences  of  the 
young  on  a  sounder  basis. 

(2)  The  Problems  of  Employment 

The  vocational  counselor  is  interested,  too,  in  cooperating  with 
employers,  the  employed,  and  legislative  and  executive  officials  in 
the  progressive  improvement  of  conditions  of  labor.  If  the  school 
is  to  prepare  boys  and  girls  for  a  life  in  industry  and  commerce,  then 
it  must  be  deeyly  interested  in  the  question  of  wages,  fatigue, 
hours  of  labor  and  steady  employment.  Some  firms  hire  thousands 
annually,  in  order  to  keep  a  force  of  hundreds.  They  must  be 
shown  how  to  reduce  this  "labor  turnover,"  and  men  interested  in 
vocational  guidance  are  assisting  in  the  work.  Employment  de- 
partments are  being  put  in  charge  of  intelligent  and  responsible 
managers,  and  plans  have  been  instituted  for  anatyzing  jobs,  hiring 
help,  transfers,  promotions,  handling  of  complaints  and  constructive 
suggestions,  and  training  employment  managers. 

The  modern  movement  for  "scientific  management"  must  be 
safeguarded  in  its  service  to  society — the  counselor  must  inform 
himself  regarding  this  problem.  The  apparent  conflict  between 
personal  ambition  and  community  service  must  be  solved  through 
the  aid  of  painstaking  vocational  guidance.  School  pupils  must 
be  trained  for  cooperative  endeavor.  Progressive  business  houses 
are  making  increasing  effort  to  use  the  opinions  of  the  employes  in 


Vocational  Guidance  9 

determining  the  policies  of  management,  and  to  turn  over  to  them 
the  social  or  welfare  work  of  the  establishments. 

Both  children  and  adults  need  guidance  in  seeking  employment, 
and  the  counselor  must  join  in  the  movement  for  public  employment 
agencies  and  labor  exchanges  to  take  the  place  of  the  wasteful  and 
unreliable  commercial  agency.  Not  only  does  the  vocational 
guidance  movement  concern  itself  with  these  problems  of  employ- 
ment; but  it  maintains  also  that  the  coming  generation  of  workers 
should  be  equipped  to  contribute  intelligently  to  their  solution.  The 
life-career  classes,  and  the  plans  for  vocational  education,  should 
include  a  discussion  of  these  problems. 

(3)  Dangers  To  Be  Avoided 

Vocational  guidance  has  not  been  free  from  certain  misconcep- 
tions and  questionable  practices.  The  present  utility  of  psychological 
testing  for  vocational  guidance  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  In 
spite  of  extravagant  claims,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  set  of  laboratory 
tests  yet  devised  is  of  general,  practical  value  for  our  purposes. 
Again,  many  sincere  persons  try  to  advise  pupils  by  first  classifying 
them  into  "types."  Human  nature  is  complex,  however,  and  no 
simple  pigeonholes  will  serve  in  vocational  guidance.  Besides,  the 
theory  that  there  are  types  of  mind  has  been  much  discredited 
through  recent  investigations,  and  no  counselor  can  afford  to  use 
it.  Again,  there  has  been  in  some  schools  an  unwarranted  use  of 
record  blanks  with  long  lists  of  questions  involving  self-analysis 
beyond  the  abilities  of  the  children.  Teachers,  too,  have  tried  to 
analyze  individual  children,  labeling  one  as  "attentive,"  another 
"observant,"  another  "dull,"  "persistent,"  "orderly,"  or  "slow." 
It  is  now  beginning  to  be  seen  that  persons  cannot  be  ticketed  in 
this  naive  manner, — that  the  disorderly  boy  in  one  kind  of  activ- 
ity is  likely  to  become  orderly  in  another,  and  that  even  a  moral 
quality  as  honesty  may,  by  the  same  person,  be  exhibited 
in  one  situation  and  be  lacking  in  another.  In  other  words, 
the  theory  of  formal  discipline  or  general  training  must  not  deceive 
the  teachers;  there  are  few  if  any  mental  qualities  which,  when  pres- 
ent in  one  activity,  may  be  credited  to  an  individual  as  a  general 
characteristic.  A  boy's  perseverance  in  baseball  does  not  guarantee 
his  perseverance  in  arithmetic.  Some  teachers  attach  too  great 
importance  to  mere  physical  characteristics,  or  to  such  vague  and 


10  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

unmeasured  hypotheses  as  "the  influence  of  heredity,"  "innate 
qualities,"  "native  ability,"  and  others.  All  reliance  on  such  data, 
together  with  phrenology,  "character  analysis,"  and  study  of 
physiognomies,  had  best  be  left  to  the  charlatan.  Life  is  too  com- 
plex for  such  short  cuts, — scientific  study  of  vocational  guidance 
problems  is  necessary,  and  there  is  no  easy  way. 

Again,  overconfident  advice  must  be  avoided;  it  has  been 
proved  unsafe  to  attempt  to  tell  a  boy  just  what  he  can  or  cannot  be- 
come. Then,  too,  unsocial  influence  has  no  place  in  vocational 
guidance.  School  people  cannot  afford  to  interest  themselves  in 
helping  boys  and  girls  merely  to ' '  get  ahead  of  the  other  fellow, ' '  in  the 
"race  for  success,"  nor  to  glorify  mere  will-power  unchecked  by 
social  viewpoint,  nor  to  encourage  questionable  forms  of  "sale- 
manship,"  as  these  propositions  are  advertised  in  some  current 
magazines.  Moral  and  social  ideals  must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The 
student  himself  must  by  no  means  be  passive  in  all  this  program  of 
activity.  He  must  progressively  awaken  to  a  realization  of  his 
opportunities,  and  must  develop  a  desire  to  reap  only  the  rewards 
of  such  honest  service  as  he  can  fit  himself  to  render.  Without  the 
student's  awakening,  vocational  guidance  is  of  little  or  no  effect. 

Conclusion 

Such,  in  brief,  are  the  main  currents  of  interest  and  accomplish- 
ment in  the  movement  for  vocational  guidance.  Though  the  guid- 
ance is  to  be  offered  to  each  pupil  in  the  schools,  and  to  each  young 
person  at  work,  it  will  be  seen  that  effective  aid  can  be  given  only 
as  schooling  and  conditions  of  employment  are  gradually  improved. 
At  the  present  time  many  school  systems  are  making  children  aware 
of  occupational  opportunities,  and  preparing  them  for  effective 
labor.  There  is  taking  place  a  reexamination  and  readjustment  of 
school  methods  (this  volume  is  one  of  the  evidences),  and  teachers 
are  now  as  never  before  cooperating  with  intelligent  laymen  in  the 
solution  of  perplexing  problems  of  employment.  The  progress  in 
these  fields  of  educational  and  economic  endeavor  during  the  past 
decade  gives  hope  enough  for  the  future.  The  movement  which  we 
are  discussing  in  this  paper  aims  to  contribute  its  best  thought  to 
these  streams  of  conscious  evolution,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
derive  from  them  the  means  for  a  more  efficient  "  vocational  guid- 
ance of  youth, "  in  school  and  in  occupation. 


K  r: 


58  i 


V 


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